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The Face of an Angel [10]

Leviathan 3: Libri quosdam ad Sciéntiam,  álios ad insaniam deduxére ed. Forrest Aguirre & Jeff VanderMeer, Ministry of Whimsey, April 2002
Fantasy: The Best of 2002 ed. Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber, ibooks, May 2003
The Best of Both Worlds and Other Ambiguous Tales, Borgo Press, August 2009

The Facts of Life [13]

Asimov's Science Fiction September 1993
Designer Genes: Tales of the Biotech Revolution, Five Star, 2004
Translated into German by Rosemarie Hundertmarck as: 'Die Tatsachen des Lebens' in Riffprimaten ed. Wolfgang Jeschke, Heyne, 1996

Review by Ian Braidwood

Poor old Benjy Stephens has to deal with both parents and an elder step sister. None of them understand what he's trying to achieve and his parents don't seem able to live with each other.

As an escape from situations he just can't handle, Benjy immerses himself in his experiments with Mutaclay - a genetic equivalent of Lego crossed with astronomy, in that it is possible for amateurs to still make a useful contribution to the science.

Benjy's relationship with Mutaclay is however, more than just an escape, because Mutaclay models evolution and like any didactic toy, helps Benjy formulate his ideas about life.

Unfortuntely, Benjy's latest experiment needs stability, which the Stephens household is unlikely to provide. Can Benjy make his discovery before his home dissolves into parental chaos and will Benjy lose everything he values?

Uncliched and unsentimental.


Fans From Hell [3]

Steel Caves (online) December 2000
The Cosmic Perspective and Other Black Comedies, Borgo Press, July 2009

Review by Trent Walters

A mid-list author is hounded by the tortures and idiocies of fans and denigrators. Until finally, the author gets the appreciation he's been longing for from a classy joint not far off Picadilly, but quite a ways below Earth. The author reads an entire novel straight through to the unfinished ending.

The engagement is a smashing success - except for one small, forgotten detail.

Some great lines in here include "Most of all, though, he hated the fans from hell. They were the ones who liked his stuff, or pretended to, for all the wrong reasons: not because they appreciated the deftness of his prose, or the subtlety of his symbolism, or the propriety of his metaphors, or the bleak profundity of his insight into the murkier depths of he human condition, but simply because they got off on descriptions of people being messily done to death. Any descriptions of people being messily done to death would do, because they always consumed them devoid of any context, skipping the meaningful bits in between."


Fantasies of the Flesh [1]

Hidden Corners #4, December 2001

First Paragraph of a Story [v]

Strange Brew (fnz) #1, Autumn 1992

The Fisherman's Child [7]

The Penny Dreadfull (fnz) #10, April 1998
Salome & Other Decadent Fantasies, Cosmos Books 2004

Review by Ian Braidwood

The illicite progeny of a mating between the stories of Moses and Faust, this tale tells of a baby given to the sea when her family cannot feed her.

Although unable to resist the necessity of the deed, the fisherman's remorse so consumes him that he calls upon any god to preserve the baby's life and we all know how dangerous that sort of talk is, don't we boys and girls?


Les Fleurs du Mal [30]

Asimov's Science Fiction October 1994
- Hugo nomination for Best Novella, 1995.
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twelfth Annual Collection ed. Gardner Dozois, St Martin's Press, 1995
Translated into Greek as: 'Ta Anthi tou Kakou', Triton 1997
Translated into French as: 'Les Fleurs du Mal' in Galaxies #9, June 1998
Expanded into The Architects of Emortality
Translated into Czech as: 'Kvety zla', Ikarie January 2007

Review by Ian Braidwood

One of Brian's most stylish stories and one he had a lot of fun with, as will become clear.

Somebody out there has gone on a killing spree and unfortunately, he's a bit of a clever clogs. In fact, not since Iago has a smart-arse led the forces of truth and righteousness such a merry dance; and he had Shakespeare to help him.

Weighing-in for the law is Hal Watson, abetted by Charlotte Holmes. Notice that the verb in the second phrase of the last sentence is lacking its usual adjective; a clue to the type of tale we're dealing with.

Having decided that the Police aren't smart enough to appreciate the full poetic beauty of his crimes, the miscreant decides to rope in Oscar Wilde, genetic flower designer and professional dandy.

With Watson scanning the web for clues, Holmes and Wilde follow smart-arse's itinerary; trying to prevent more deaths and figuring out the who and the why.

All this leads up to a sensational denouement, which would stretch the talents of any artist.

In summary: SE7EN for laughs.


The Flowers of the Forest [8]

Amazing Stories June 1993
Translated into Czech by Josef Dušek as: 'Kvety pralesa' in Ikarie October 1995
Complications & Other Science Fiction Stories, Cosmos Books, 2003

Review by Ian Braidwood

This is a very good example of how thinking out your worldview can bring out the unexpected and add freshness to a story; how obviously clichéd ideas can be given new life. Many clichés haven't been properly explored before being discarded.

An idea, which Brian has chosen to avoid here is the interstellar bus-stop, where people jump on a starship before getting off at the other end to have their adventure. Here Relativity rules and the starship is a generation ship; those individuals chosen to explore Quibor have to grow new legs, which they have to learn how to use planetside. This gives them plenty of time to learn a couple of local languages - neatly avoiding the need for a Babel fish - before they are able to join a local expedition into the forest.

However, all does not go well. Although Quiborian life doesn't use DNA - making our two human explorers immune to virus attack - this doesn't mean that Quiborian micro-organisms can't metabolise breakdown products from Human tissue and one of men falls dangerously ill. In order to preserve his life, he has to make a decision, which most able bodied people would find simply repulsive...


Following the Pharmers [14]

Asimov's Science Fiction March 2008
The Great Chain of Being and Other Tales of the Biotech Revolution, Borgo Press, August 2009

The Furniture of Life's Ambition [6]

Zenith 2 ed. David S. Garnett, Orbit, 1990
Sexual Chemistry, Simon & Schuster (UK), 1991

Review by Ian Braidwood

William Morris is a brilliant genetic engineer, who discovered important techniques for controlling the activity of genes. He is however, stuck working for a food manufacturer who cares nothing for scientific revelation, as much as the next meal ticket.

Desperate to escape, he teams up with high - flying investment manager Peter Marshall and sets up his own business, producing entirely different genetic products.

When Marshall betrays William's trust, the scientist plots a particularly appropriate and ingenious revenge.


Further Beyond [14]

Black Wings III - New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror ed. S.T. Joshi, PS Publishing, January 2014


A Further Experiment in the Effects of Mesmerism [2]

Weird Fiction Review #5, Fall 2014

The Fury That Hell Withheld [6]

Interzone #35, May 1990
Sexual Chemistry, Simon & Schuster (UK), 1991

Review by Ian Braidwood

This is a mixture of revenge and detective story.

When Adam Emden, foremost exponent of genetic manipulation in medicine is murdered, the perpetrators cover their tracks so well that only Emden's daughter Alexia suspects foul play. Together, she and her brother Aristide plot a gruesome and poetic revenge...

Another great story from a resurgent Mr Stableford.


The Brian Stableford Website